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The Adult Beginners and Beyond Scott Joplin-themed recital is now open for submissions!

The recital will be posted some time on the 15th of March, which means that the submissions must be in by midnight Eastern Standard Time, March 14. Please note this deadline is very firm; I cannot start working on the recital until it is closed, and once it is closed, no new entries can be added.

Unlike the Adult Beginners and Beyond Quarterly recitals, which showcase a variety of composers, this recital showcases just the piano works of Scott Joplin. All are welcome to submit a piece by consulting the signup thread here and putting in a request to play an otherwise unclaimed Joplin piece (even if it is not yet explicitly listed).

If you are fairly new to the piano, please do not be intimidated by some of the talent here in the ABF. We all consider ourselves to be beginners even though we may have been playing for some time. And, we LOVE to hear recordings from folks new to the keyboard.

Recital submissions must be in MP3 format. The maximum size of the file is 20 MB. We recommend encoding the recording at 192 kbs with a constant bitrate, as that works best with the online streaming player. At that bitrate, a 20 MB file works out to be about 7-9 minutes in length. Your recording will be normalized when placed in the consolidated zip files, but your original link will still be available for those who want it.

If you are new to recording your music, there are several threads in the forum archives that address the ways and means. See the "Important Topics in the AB Forum" thread stickied at the top of the AB forum page. Audacity is an excellent free recording application that can be used.

If you’re new to the forum and the recitals, I encourage you to browse through a few of the past recitals to see what they’re like. An easy way to find past recitals is to use Sam S.’s extremely helpful recital index, located here:

We will be using again the absolutely marvelous automatic web-based recital program that mahlzeit wrote for us. You will upload your mp3 file to the recital server as part of the recital submission process.

and follow the instructions there. Please note that this URL reflects our new permanent home for all the recital files. Once you have uploaded your info to the automated recital software, you will receive a confirmation e-mail. You will have the opportunity to revise your submission any time up until the deadline. If you have any problems at all using the new website, or if you do not receive a confirmation e-mail within a few hours, just PM me. If you have not participated in past recitals using this software, I strongly encourage you to submit your recital piece at least a day in advance in case you run into any problems with it.

The recital website uses the following submission template to be filled out along with your attached music file. You may want to have your responses to these fields prepared in advance so all you have to do is cut and paste:

The due date for all submissions is midnight US EASTERN TIME on March 14, 2014.

Did I mention that the midnight deadline was firm?

Think "consistency of concrete."

By submitting a piece to the recital, you are certifying that it is a recording of your own performance.

Again, the recital order will be presented in the order the pieces were received, so the sooner you send in your piece, the higher you will be on the list! You can revise your entries on the template (e.g., thoughts about your piece, adding YouTube links, and the like) any time and not lose your place in the recital queue, but if you resubmit your recording at any time, for any reason, you will be bumped to the end of the list.

Should anyone have any questions at all on what to do or how to do it, this is the place to ask. Remember, there are NO stupid questions, as we have a steady flow of new members in AB Forum for whom this is their first recital, so your questions will probably help to eliminate other members’ problems. Please ask away! smile

Let's all go out and brave that Red Dot and share a lot of beautiful music!

HI, Whizbang,Yes, I've had so much trouble memorizing, too. This piece is easier than classical pieces to memorize for me, and it helped that we had months to learn it. I learned the first two sections and a bit of the 3rd and 4th, and then got so busy and put it aside. When I came back to it, it wasn't as daunting since I had pretty well learned about half of it.

When I take lessons, we're always onto the next piece so quickly, and I have to take so much time to memorize that I never can accomplish it in the time frame.

Well, I am in! It is not perfect, but it is my best effort at this point. This has been a great learning experience. Thanks for organising all of this Whizbang! It has been both fun, and at times, torture (in front to the red dot)!! But I have to think I am a better player for it. I cannot wait to listen to everyone's submissions!

_________________________European Piano Party July 4, 2015 in Switzerland!

I've had time to record "Pleasant Moments" twice in the last week, but still have to try to get it a bit better ... wish I had the red dot in my corner, but he's on the other side of the ring in his corner. It's easier to swing the tune than playing it straight up.

I'll record Bethena this weekend, and then make a final run at Original Rags the next week. Nothing like down to the wire! I think it's great that you folks have already got yours in so you can sit back and relax.

I'll record Bethena this weekend, and then make a final run at Original Rags the next week. Nothing like down to the wire! I think it's great that you folks have already got yours in so you can sit back and relax.

Oh, go ahead and swing it, Rerun, you know you want to

Cathy

I think I'll swing some on the fly, this tune has "Go ahead, improvise me" written all over it.

I tried recording new rag tonight but I'm having problems getting a clean recording because the left hand goes pretty low and I can't play the right notes without looking at my left hand and then I'm not looking at the music and the whole thing stops up. I occasionally have wrong notes for other reasons also. It's obvious I'll have to memorize it so I've decided to work on that instead of doing more recordings right now.

Bethena is sounding really good, IMO, so I'll submit this weekend. The octaves on Original Rag are more and more often at tempo, and I could even start them a little more upbeat than I've been doing while working them up, so I actually think they'll be ready to record before the deadline. Knock on wood

Congratulations to those of you who have submitted your pieces. Well done.